You had me with this until you said it had to ship via Ground. Who can be without luggage for 5 days!? I think the point of this article really is to just fly JetBlue or Southwest when possible.

Posted By Heather on January 28, 2010, 10:56 AM

does the same theory work for a trip to england. i have a family of 4 flying to london in the summer and was wondering about shipping each of our 2nd and some 3rd bags. The shipping insurance may be better than the airline coverage.

Posted By Ken Henry on January 28, 2010, 11:24 AM

When I am going somewhere and staying for the whole time I do not even bother with a suitcase. I pack things in a box to ship and UPS them - the box is much lighter, I can get everything in and I don't need a suitcase if I am staying in the same place the whole time. I have done this to San Francisco and then two days before I leave I take everything to a wash, dry and fold; I pick up everything already folded, back into the box it goes and I ship out sometimes the morning of my return flight. It doesn't matter when it gets back to my home. I LOVE IT

Posted By Karen Kelly on January 28, 2010, 11:27 AM

No, I'm afraid not for international trips because overseas shipping is generally too expensive.

This is for U.S. travel only.

--Sean, with Budget Travel

Posted By Blog Editor on January 28, 2010, 11:32 AM

Just shipped luggage from CA to FL by FedX. The bag was delivered damaged,verified by the driver.
FedX is dragging it's feet on settling and then only for the shipping cost.

Posted By Libby Hurlich on January 28, 2010, 11:33 AM

So how do you get your bags at your destination? Do you have to go to the FedEx/UPS office and pick them up? Or can they deliver to hotels and have hotel staff accept for you?

Posted By Barb on January 28, 2010, 11:39 AM

An even better solution is to learn how to travel lightly, and not check bags at all. Most people, for most journeys (business or pleasure), can travel for extended periods of time with no more than will fit in a single carry-on-sized bag. And not only will you save money, but your belongings will be more secure, your schedules more flexible, and your life more serene. I always travel this way, and the interesting thing is that if ever a travel companion has neglected to bring something important, I usually have one! It's a skill, to be sure, but one that is easily acquired.

Posted By Doug Dyment on January 28, 2010, 11:46 AM

Hi Barb,
Thanks for commenting. Hotels can accept your bag. When your room is ready, it will usually be brought up to it.

If you've ever checked out of a hotel but had the staff keep your bag for a few hours while you explore town, then you know that hotels can store your bags in a central secure room.

Small motels, etc., will be the exceptions, of course.
Safe travels,
Sean

Posted By Blog Editor on January 28, 2010, 11:49 AM

Hi Doug,
Thanks for commenting. I highly recommend our readers check out your website, OneBag.com, for more unbiased, thoroughly-tested tips and strategies on packing light.
Best,
Sean

Posted By Blog Editor on January 28, 2010, 11:56 AM

Every time there is a post like this, someone chimes in with the useless comment that I should travel lighter. Well, I travel with two car seats, a stroller, two children, two adults and we travel internationally and stay for weeks. We actually come with a few empty bags (to buy the great bargains in the US for my children's feet, especially) but really- a DSLR, three compact cameras, a netbook, a Macbook, a large business required Dell laptop, two Nintendo DS, a bunch of coloring books, dolls and the Kindle (which has lightened my load) as well as chargers and adapters- do these folks have any idea what it's like to travel as a family, to cold (skiiing) climes and then to warm (Disney and grandparents)--- are they so rich they just buy clothes and then throw them away?
And those who say to charge for carry-ons: even when I travel alone, the only things I need are those in my carry-on: camera, netbook, Kindle, passport, wallet, a change of clothes, a handy and a toothbrush- no paste. Who thinks charging me for that makes sense?
Sorry- sometimes I think people have no sense of empathy. Especially the ones, who after saying we should all pack light, think 90 year olds should be able to put a bag in the overhead alone, or not travel at all.

Posted By G on January 28, 2010, 12:16 PM

Good grief! You don't have to take your whole house. Find other ways to entertain the kids. When I was a kid we would travel 8 hours and all we had to for entertainment was whatever my folks wanted to hear on the radio and looking out windows. As for a 90 year old needing help the crew would help them.

Posted By Diana on January 28, 2010, 1:16 PM

People have to learn to pack lighter period! You really have to rethink what you take with you. I refuse to pay for luggage. My clothes are not worth that much. I could buy a new outfit for what airlines charge now!

Posted By pdelaney on January 28, 2010, 1:24 PM

I'm with Doug. I packed for a two-week tour of China with one carry-on. All clothing was easy sink-wash and line-dry, getting more than one use out of each item. If you MUST check a bag, do the shipping math first. Thanks for the article Sean!

Posted By Martrese on January 28, 2010, 1:53 PM

Actually, shipping to Europe can be cheaper and faster than you might think using the regular US post-office. I moved to Europe for a year & I shipped three boxes priority mail for about $100 a piece from New York to Switzerland and they arrived in less than a week. On the way back it cost about the same to ship regular mail - but the boxes arrived on different days and took between 1 to 2.5 weeks to come back. The downside of the post office is they give you a range of arrival days 5 - 10 business days, etc. so it might not be practical for a short vacation. But if you are going for awhile, or if you end up buying a lot of stuff that you don't need the minute you get home - shipping is the way to go!

Posted By MG on January 28, 2010, 2:19 PM

Planes are designed to have most of the luggage in the cargo area, not in the overheads and under the seats. If they keep this up, they need to redesign the planes to hold more carry on luggage so we don't wait an extra half an hour for the last people on the plane to find space for their luggage. This is getting ridiculous. You should not have to mail your bags, but if things don't change, it's going to be UPS making it big, not the airlines.

Posted By SS on January 28, 2010, 2:23 PM

" As for a 90 year old needing help the crew would help them."

Actually, in flight attendant training you are told specifically that if you are hurt putting a passengers bag up in the overhead bin they (the airline) will not pay for anything. So I wouldn't count on help from the crew, maybe another nice passenger!

Posted By A on January 28, 2010, 2:28 PM

You must be very important G to need all those electronics. I've traveled with 4 children and never needed to take that much. As for the extra suitcases, buy the stuff, pack it in a box and ship it home.

Posted By B on January 28, 2010, 2:34 PM

If you're traveling within Japan the "Black Cat" delivery service is cheap and extremely fast. They have a counter within Tokyo's Narita airport, so if you arrive with more than you want to drag around by train, etc. ship it! I had to overnight and change airports before I could fly to my final destination of Hakodate, and the bag got there before I did.

Posted By Spud on January 28, 2010, 2:51 PM

This fall, getting ready for an Alaska cruise I shipped our luggage to our Anchorage motel via the Postal Service. Big box cheaper than FEDEX or UPS and just as easy.

Posted By Ed Breen on January 28, 2010, 3:17 PM

Gosh, B, shipping it to Germany from Florida would be more expensive than the actual plane tickets. Important? Because while gone from home for a month plus we need to- take family and vacation photos, keep in contact with work, be reachable in emergency (or reach emergency services) allow our kids to be amused on 18+ hour transits, read a book?
But that snide attitude is what I generally see in these throw off comments. I went to London last month Ryan Air- allowed a carry-on of less than 10 pounds- easy enough to do while alone for a weekend, but oh so easy to judge others, isn't it?
It's $6/lb shipping NY to Germany- the overage by airline would be cheaper, although so far we haven't needed it yet, so I'm not certain how light MG's shipment was?

Posted By G on January 28, 2010, 3:18 PM

Watch out for fees levied by your hotel for "receiving and holding packages". Last year, I shipped my luggage in a carton to a hotel in Cleveland. When I arrived, the hotel charged me $20 for their "service". The box had arrived that day, so it's not as though they had to store it. I protested, with no luck. I also felt obligated to tip the bellman who brought it to my room - after all, it wasn't HIS fault that the hotel charged me. So, while it was more convenient to travel without the luggage, I don't think it was cheaper in the long run.

Posted By Susan on January 28, 2010, 3:35 PM

G - I'm agog that you need three computers and three cameras, two nintendos, and two carseats, plus the extras you noted. I can understand one computer and one camera, but triplicate? Do the children need to be entertained by electronics, especially one who's young enough for a stroller? Car rental companies rent car seats, and strollers can be inexpensively purchased at your destination and then left with the relatives you mentioned. If you're willing to pay all the fees and charges associated with the excess baggage (and that's *not* a snide comment), then more power to you. My family's rules? One carry on per person, no matter how many adults, children, babies, teens, seniors are traveling.

Posted By M on January 28, 2010, 3:40 PM

G - I'm agog that you need three computers and three cameras, two nintendos, and two carseats, plus the extras you noted. I can understand one computer and one camera, but triplicate? Do the children need to be entertained by electronics, especially one who's young enough for a stroller? Car rental companies rent car seats, and strollers can be inexpensively purchased at your destination and then left with the relatives you mentioned. If you're willing to pay all the fees and charges associated with the excess baggage (and that's *not* a snide comment), then more power to you. My family's rules? One carry on per person, no matter how many adults, children, babies, teens, seniors are traveling.

Posted By M on January 28, 2010, 3:40 PM

What is the advice for taking down hill skis on a flight?

Posted By J Dague on January 28, 2010, 5:07 PM

Peter, Peter, Peter, Such HYPERBOLE> Airlines have a 99.5% baggage delivery rate. Are YOU 99.5% accurate day in and day out? Most bags that are lost have no ID INSIDE THE BAG. Put your ID inside -you will rarely ever have a problem. 28 years in the business.

Posted By David on January 28, 2010, 5:16 PM

I stayed 5 weeks for my first trip to Turkey with just the carry-on and did fine. Less is more. That included a week sailing, 10 days for a tour, and the rest exploring the country on my own, not knowing what I would encounter. How nice it was to have my luggage manageable and not feel like a packhorse! Learned to pack light when backpacking. Adapting that now to air travel. Lots of websites out there on how to do it.

Posted By Linda on January 28, 2010, 6:59 PM

My Husband and I have shipped winter clothing and cruise clothes that were used for part of trips and not needed for the remainder of the trip to other parts of the world back to our home on several occasions by USPS. The rates for a 50lb suitcase have been very reasonable. Most of these shipments have been international and still very reasonable. This was before the airlines started charging for checked baggage. We would not ship our ice skates ahead again internationally since due to the high value declared on the skates they were detained in customs in Canada. I sent them a week in advance and called the Hotel several times to see if they had been delivered. I had to track them down and only received them in time to use them on the trip because of a kind woman who found them and walked them through the red tape.

Posted By Claudia Zinser on January 29, 2010, 1:52 AM

Going to Hawaii for 2 weeks with scuba gear. We expect to take three 40-50 lb bags total. Yes,the scuba gear has to go. At the end of the trip we're coming off a cruise ship. How do I ship the suitcases home from the port or can I ship from the airport?

Posted By Karen T on January 29, 2010, 5:21 AM

I have tried to ship my bags before with no luck. Hopefully a "Blog Editor" can comment on this. I have seen these articles many times with no advice as to how to address the package. My wife and I shipped our formal cruise clothes to Venice so we didn't have to drag them around Europe before our cruise out of Venice. I contacted the Venice hotel and confirmed they would hold the box as it would arrive before we did. They said, yes. When we got to Venice,our box was in Customs in Milan! The hotel said they could not sign for it as they would be accepting "responsibility" for whatever was inside. Maybe we should have addressed it to the hotel, with our information inside the box. When the hotel opened it, our information would be inside and they would have already accepted the package. Who knows, but I can't imagine it only happend to us. How should we and others avoid this in the future? Tks

Posted By Roger H on January 29, 2010, 12:04 PM

When traveling great distances for extended periods of time, I would pack up things we didn't need and ship them home via US postal service. This was even when we were traveling by car.

It cleaned up the car, lightened the suitcases and made the trip easier and lighter.

For shorter trips, I now pack fewer clothes and think about what really works for me. With no check-in fees, I can buy something chic to wear there and have a wonderful physical memory of the journey. I'm traveling with adults now and can understand about children needing some of the things listed, but really, learning to share can be a good thing.

Posted By Marinda S on January 29, 2010, 12:42 PM

When we were growing up, my parents had a strict "carry-on only" rule for themselves and the five of us kids. So we never checked any bags, even on long European trips. If we couldn't carry it on the plane, then we couldn't take it. Simple.

Posted By Ernest on January 29, 2010, 3:13 PM

Hi Roger,
Thanks for your comment. Sorry to hear about your customs holdup for your Milan trip.

First off, we talk about shipping your luggage as a good DOMESTIC travel option, not an international option, because it's generally too expensive to ship bags overseas, in our anecdotal experience.

For U.S. hotels, call a hotel desk employee in advance. They can make a note in your reservation file. When the bag arrives, they'll sign for it, after checking your hotel reservation record, and they'll store it in the same place they store bags for people who check in early before their rooms are ready and leave their luggage on site so they can do some sight-seeing around the area unencumbered. We've never had a reader say that a U.S. hotel has been confused by these sorts of requests. But we're all ears.

Be sure to use the proper address for the hotel. Send the package to your own attention but make it "care of" the hotel.

Some high-end (luxury) hotels may charge you for this service. Argh! The alternative in this case is,
again for hotels in the U.S., have the bag sent to a FedEx/Kinkos location near your hotel as a "hold for pick up." (UPS Customer Centers are also an option for Hold For Pickup deliveries, but not UPS Stores.) Luxury hotels are almost always within a short distance of a FedEx/Kinkos these days. You'll see a list of locations at the FedEx website.

Hope that helps!

Posted By Blog Editor on January 29, 2010, 4:01 PM

To answer the question about shipping internationally: No, it is not cheaper to ship because the airlines do not charge for international flights.

Posted By Jenny on January 29, 2010, 5:30 PM

Thank you for the response. I guess I never read closely enough but the articles never seem to differentiate between Us and International. I don't think this one does either.

It was expensive to send clothes to Venice but the alternative was to lug them around Europe for the two weeks prior to our cruise.

I also notice other responses talking about shipping internationally for similar reasons.

Maybe future articles, ( which I know you don't write) should talk about US shipping "only" or the differences between international and U.S.

Cost is not always the most important factor. I had contacted our Venice hotel and advised them about sending the package. They never mentioned there would be a problem accepting the package. I'm sure I should have talked to a Manager instead of the front desk clerk. A manager is probably who would not sign for the package. I do understand their concerns. The box could have contained anything, hazardous, drugs, etc. and they would have accepted it.

Our trip wasn't to Milan. The box was sent to the Milan Customs office when the hotel refused to sign for it and we were in Venice! It wasn't practical to take the train and taxi to Milan and retrieve the box instead of enjoying Venice so we just let the box stay in Milan and figured we lost the contents. When we returned home, the box was returned as well, since it was never claimed!

Thanks again, I'll be checking for future articles to mention US versus International shipping. Thanks, Roger

Posted By Roger on January 30, 2010, 1:01 PM

I tried to resist making a comment, but I just can't. ...Seriously G, you don't need three computers, four cameras and two DS to take photos, keep in touch with work and amuse the kids. And I am speaking from experience in traveling internationally with two adults and two children.

Posted By Maggie on January 30, 2010, 6:27 PM

I'm agreeing with Doug Dyment, pack light ! One bag per traveller. He has a great website.... It really is do-able. Even with families. Rick Steves says the same thing. Americans take too much unnecessary junk with them. "G" needs to rethink his/her travel method, a lot of that stuff really is unneeded. 3 cameras ? Can't people share the camera ? I have been travelling with one carryon & 1 personal bag for many years, domestically, to the caribbean, and if you are smart about packing only what you will need you'll be fine. I'm a gadget nut & love my electronics, but people need to experience and look at the place they're going to, interact with real people & events there, & not be glued to a computer/nintendo/etc. That's the whole point of travel! If you need email, web, etc, get a smart phone, leave the computer at home. You can buy /rent things you didnt bring at wherever you go, if you really need to.
ON another note, it's a shame airlines are such greedy jerks about luggage, i wouldn't be surprised if they start charging for carry-ons next, then restroom usage, air to breathe etc. Wish the govt would regulate the airlines again.

Posted By Mike F. on January 31, 2010, 9:38 AM

I shipped a suitcase home a few weeks ago. Yes, it went ground.
It left Southern California on Thursday and arrived in Atlanta the next Wed. Honeslty, I can survive without that clothing for that long without any problem.

Since I don't pay check fees on Delta, the savings were 0. I was able to avoid the Alaska Air fees, but the cost was almost exactly the same to ship. However, it was to not deal with it.

And Mike F. when the goverment regulated the airlines, airfares cost more then the do now.. So how much more are you willing to pay?

Posted By Carol on January 31, 2010, 8:05 PM

As a delivery driver just a warning to everyone, Your bag will get dirty and handles and zippers have a way of becoming damaged. Protect your bag with a cardboard box or a very sturdy plastic bag. Most shippers will not pay damages for luggage that was not shipped to protect it. When shipping to a hotel, make sure the name of the person booking the room and their arrival date is on the package. I have had numerous hotels refuse packages because that dont show that person at their hotel or arriving in the near future.

Posted By tonya on January 31, 2010, 8:44 PM

In response to Jenny: Oh YES the airlines DO charge for baggage on international flights.
And they are STRICT!
November 2009 I travelled to UK from Costa Rica and stayed in England for a month.
When I left CR my baggage allowance was 2 check in bags, 23kgs max per piece.
Whilst I was in UK the airline changed their check in baggage policy and reduced the allowance to 1 check in bag.
When I arrived to check in (London)and explained that I had left home (Costa Rica) whilst the 2 bag allowance was the rule, they claimed that I had to pay for the 2nd bag nevertheless. That cost me almost 50 sterling.
I wrote to the airline and explained the situation and got a very nice reply which stated there was nothing they could do about it and no, I would not be re-reimbursed.
That's why I'm very interested to know whether it would be worth shipping a bag this year from England to Costa Rica!

Posted By Zoe on February 3, 2010, 7:45 PM

Maybe Fed-Ex and UPS should take up shipping passengers too, or offer passenger flights on their planes, forget the Commercial Airlines I am shipping myself overnight. :)

Posted By Mathew Meksayo on February 6, 2010, 4:15 PM

Don, thank you for the effortless cool you taken to our lives. Choose God and strut on the Soul Train Line with the angels.

Posted By Darrell Mitkowski on February 3, 2012, 9:36 PM

Genius Blog-Post, kann ich nur sagen!

Posted By wypadek on March 7, 2012, 2:18 AM